276 ANTHONY PAYNE, CORNISH GIANT. 



estate of Sir Beville Grenville. As a lad, he was good-natured, 

 lending his bent figure to the cutter-out in hop, stride, and over, 

 or even, to the dismay of his mother, that stretch of cloth across 

 his broad back for some young geographer to sketch thereon a 

 map of the world. Yet his playmates were as kittens in his 

 hands ; in mere playfulness he would at times whisk off two of 

 the stoutest of them, and one under each arm, clamber up to 

 some perilous crag, and show them to their terror, the distant 

 world. He was beloved by them ; he was " Uncle Tony " at 

 school; a proverb, " as long as Tony Payne's foot," still extant 

 in Cornwall, probably came from the same source. 



And this love for man and from man clung to him through- 

 out his career. One feels pleased that the attachment of such a 

 man was not only accepted but was requited. As a young man 

 Anthony Payne was fortunate ; he was sent to Stowe House, Sir 

 Beville Grenville's, and he became the chief retainer of that 

 gentleman. Famous old Stowe was in those days the centre to 

 which many gentlemen sent their sons to be brought up with 

 those of Sir Beville and Lady Grace. Stowe House had been the 

 residence of the Grenville family for six hundred years, and its 

 associations were of a very high character. It was Anthony 

 Payne's duty to take especial charge of the outdoor education of 

 the young gentlemen at Stowe. He taught them to fish, to shoot, 

 and to handle arms ; you can be shown to-day a great stone, 

 near the now demolished house of Stowe, which is called 

 " Payne's cast," which marks the place of his cast, ten paces 

 beyond where the strongest players could " put the stone," 

 when they used to play in the hurler's ground. 



Then came the Civil War, when Charles I and his Parlia- 

 ment sought to settle their differences on the battle-field ; in the 

 main Devon going for Parliament, and Cornwall for the King. 

 Theory of " Grenville's up," took stalwart knights, brave men, 

 and raw recruits in plenty to Stowe, and Anthony Payne had the 

 drilling and manoeuvring of these. At one time Sir Beville had 

 his head-quarters at Truro, but the great battle — we may say the 

 only great battle — of the period fought in Cornwall, took place 

 at Stratton (or Stamford) Hill, eight miles off Stowe, between 

 Lord Stamford, for the Parliament, and the Cornish forces. The 

 battle was a desperate one, the King's soldiers being outnumbered 



